Kimi wa un ga yokatta, or You were lucky
by WolfbrotherTitan
Summary: Naruto's life has never been easy, but it's about to be rocked when Hana finds him living in a tent and decides to take him home with her. What will the family think when she asks if she can keep him?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did Naruto wouldn't bother Sakura so much, and would try his luck elsewhere.

Summary: As a child Naruto suffered many small injustices, but occasionally he was met by unexpected kindness and that is where this story will begin, with an injustice followed by a kindness that will blossom in the coming years into something more. Credit where credit is due:

1) Hawk – Story: Hooray for bad Intel

2) Can't remember

From Hawk I decided I really like this pairing, and unlike some out of his age group Hana is only 4 years older than Naruto. From the one I can't remember the two meeting at a young age (if anyone believes they know who this was I'd love to give credit, even if that seems a minor detail).

It had been a good day for the nine-year-old Naruto Uzumaki. His day had started bright and early at 6am with the sun just whispering above the horizon and the feast of kings for breakfast: Instant Ramen, chicken flavor. During the dratted 3 minute wait for it to be ready Naruto did some wake-me-up exercises, as he called them, squats, push-ups, sit-ups, and anything else he could think of, 20 of each. He just managed to build a light sweat when the timer went off and soon after he was chowing down.

By 6:15am he was on his morning jog around the village, of course they wouldn't actually let him out of the village, so he was actually running around the inside wall, taking detours to avoid the guard posts. Luckily he knew the routine of all the city guards better than anyone else in the village did, which was necessary as some few would attack him, claiming they were helping him train. In a way, he had to admit they were helping him, especially when they threw kunai or shuriken, as then he would quickly collect them a run off.

This mornings' run, however, was not met with any 'help,' though he did have a bit of a scare as he passed the Uchiha District when he was sure a young man a few years older than himself had seen him. The villagers all seemed to dislike Naruto for some reason, but the Uchiha were the only ones who consistently risked the Hokage's wraith by actually attacking him. Last year he'd missed a week of school because he'd been attacked by a group of Uchiha youths that had left him in a coma. When he'd finally woken up he was told that the boys who attacked him had been executed and that he'd be best off avoiding the notice of that particular clan in future.

After that day most times when he was attacked an Anbu would show up quickly and take his attackers off to someone named Ibiki. Once in a while the Anbu would then treat Naruto to some ramen at Ichiraku's, where old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame were always happy to see him.

Getting back to his apartment around 8am he quickly rinsed the sweat off, gathered his school stuff, and set his traps before heading off for school.

When he got to school he found that he had a few minutes to spare, but quickly went to his seat in the back of his classroom as he seemed to get in a lot of trouble if he was even a few seconds late. One time a teacher had hit him so hard some of his baby teeth had fallen out when he was a minute late, and after that day he'd never seen that teacher again.

Nowadays Iruka-sensei was in charge of his class, and he was usually nice, he'd even treated Naruto at Ichiraku's a couple of times (though he never let Naruto have more than two bowls those times). As such, Iruka-sensei was his favorite teacher at school; it was just a shame that he usually worked with Mizuki-sensei. Mizuki-sensei had never actually done anything to him, but Naruto sometimes thought he saw the same look most of the village gave him behind those eyes of his.

Luckily, Mizuki-sensei was out today, and it was all practical learning today. Naruto didn't much like the leaf balancing exercise, but today he finally got it and was allowed to move on to practicing the Academy Ninjutsu like almost everyone else. He was so happy he'd finished the lesson on leaf balancing that he missed Iruka-sensei telling the class that they should keep this up on their own time as it was very important. All he heard was that the class would no longer be studying it in class.

Lunch came and went for Naruto, but luckily today he was able to afford the school lunch at the cafeteria, it always seemed expensive to him, but it did let him stay on the Academy grounds so that when he was finished he could get in a little training. What Naruto didn't know was that he was charged 3 to 5 times what anyone else was charged, but here the cafeteria workers were never caught since they at least gave him good food. Even if they were ever caught they were a private business and thus allowed to charge as they saw fit.

After lunch Naruto went back to class and they started working on the Academy basic ninjutsu's, and Naruto was having some trouble but he was sure he'd get them down in time.

The rest of the day went pretty fast and he was sure he was making progress, so overall he decided today was a pretty good day, that is until he got home. That's when the day went to hell as the door was off its hinges and inside the smoke and fire damage looked like it hadn't left much in one piece. His couch, which had already been old and lumpy, was now scorched, with half the stuffing ripped out; his bed was in the same condition. The walls were either covered in soot or graffiti. Generally everything was in pieces, but he was happy to see his traps had worked, as there was a good amount of blood scattered around.

Sighing Naruto went to gather whatever was easily salvageable that he'd be able to carry, and checked his hide-hole and found the picture of himself with the Hokage, some ration bars that would do in a pinch, and his small tent. This had happened before so he was prepared for it this time, he'd even managed to get a few simple carpentry tools, he'd had to skip meals every other day for a month, but it was worth it. Now he'd be able to fix his place up.

He started on the door, and by 8pm he had his door fixed and the traps reset. He couldn't sleep in his apartment tonight or even for some nights to come, but he'd get everything fixed up again. With a slight smile he took his precious items and tent and left to find one of the less used training grounds.

When he needed to he could get out or into the village without anyone seeing him. He could, but it wasn't easy so he needed to be careful.

XXXXX

It was 10pm before he'd finished his dinner, which unfortunately was one of the ration bars. That night was fairly calm so he didn't setup his tent, instead he just slept under the stars.

The next day was Sunday so there was no school, which meant he could set up his tent and try to find better food. He also made his way back into the village for a couple hours to work on repairing his apartment, and he was at pretty sure no one saw him. That night he had fish and he even had one for the next morning so things were looking up, but the next morning things were going to change.

XXXXX

The next morning Naruto woke up to the sound of yelping. He got up and looked around, after a few minutes he found a young dog or wolf-cub running from a ten-foot snake, but the cub looked hurt and after a few seconds it collapsed and the snake raised up and prepared to strike. Naruto reached into his equipment pouch and pulled out 3 shuriken and thought, _please don't let me miss today!_

He breathed in a quick breath and releasing it threw the shuriken, in the seconds it took them to fly he was silently praying…and then they struck, killing the snake inches from the cub.

Naruto collapsed a moment thanking Kami he'd thrown straight today, usually that wasn't one of his better skills, as he tended to be erratic.

"Oh yeah! The puppy," he remembered and cautiously approached the injured cub, "Easy, it's okay, I won't hurt you," he said in a soft, calm voice.

The cub yipped at him lightly and bared its' teeth, so Naruto set a small fire and cooked part of the snake. Once it was done he cut up part of it and gently threw them to the cub, and the cub quickly started gobbling them up. A few moments went by with Naruto slowly getting closer, still throwing bits of meat until he is close enough to start petting the little one.

A minute passes by and Naruto hears someone coming through the trees and then a pretty young brunette drops down in front of him. She doesn't look much older than Naruto, but he notices something else, she has strange marks on her face.

She looks around and quickly assesses what happened and smiles at Naruto then says, "Thanks for saving Sanmaru here," and the puppy limps over to her. The girl takes a moment to check Sanmaru over, and then her hand briefly glows green as she touches the puppy and after a moment he barks happily, licks the girls hand, and disappears in a puff of smoke.

Smiling the girl turns back to the boy who looks shocked, and she says, "Don't worry, Sanmaru will be fine. I just did a basic field medic healing jutsu and when I get him home I'll get him all fixed up."

Naruto nods, not that he understands, but he wants the girl to think he does at least. "So what was with him going up in smoke?" Naruto asks.

Looking a little sheepish for some reason the girl explains, "Well, I'm still learning veterinary medical jutsu. All I could really do was take away some of Sanmaru's pain, so I put him in his seal with his brothers so he'd be easier to get home where I can do a more thorough job of it. By the way, I'm Hana Inuzuka," and she smiles a little.

With one of his huge fox-like smiles Naruto says, "Naruto Uzumaki, pleased to meet'cha."

_Cute kid,_ Hana thinks, still smiling. Then she remembers something, "So Naruto what were you feeding Sanmaru when I got here? Some things aren't good for dogs, so I need to know in case he has a reaction later."

Looking concerned Naruto explains, "I was asleep when Sanmaru's cries woke me so I investigated and found that snake chasing him. Well, I managed to kill the snake with some shuriken," he had no intention of revealing he was still learning to throw shuriken, "and then I cut up the snake and cooked a bit. I figured turn about was fair play, if the snake wanted to eat Sanmaru, Sanmaru could then eat the snake."

Hana laughed at the absurd logic of kids (as a 13-year-old genin she didn't think of herself as a kid anymore) and explained that it should be just fine. Looking around though Hana seems confused and asks, "Are you out here alone Naruto?"

Scratching the back of his head he says, "Yeah…I know I', not supposed to be out here but I felt like camping…so…"

_The kid really needs to learn to lie better,_ Hana thought. "…Is that the real reason you're out here?" Now that she thought about it she had seen this kid before, and she saw how he was treated, and now she was concerned for the kid. "It's really not safe out here, especially this close to the forest. That snake could just as easily gone after you as Sanmaru."

Feeling it would be okay to tell her at least part of the truth Naruto explained, "Well…the truth is my apartment got broken into…and the landlord wanted to make sure it was safe before I go back," he finished in a rush. _Man, I hate lying to such a pretty girl._

His thoughts must have echoed on his face because Hana quickly turned away blushing. _Why am I blushing? He's just a little squirt, and I'm probably reading too much into scents and facial signs, mom said that could happen,_ but when she looked back he still seemed to be radiating interest, and she turned crimson.

Hana covered her mouth to clear her throat (and cover her blush); "Well the least I can do is offer you a safer place to stay until you can return to your apartment. You did save Sanmaru after all." Then she paled thinking, _wait…what did I just say? I can't just offer an outsider entry into the compound, mom wouldn't allow it…but he did save Sanmaru, so maybe it would be all right?_

Her confused thoughts' plane as day, Naruto was going to refuse when he looked over at the snake and shivered a little. "Well I guess I could accept…if your family is okay with it," he said smiling.

Hana felt relieved for a moment before the confusion returned, _why does this boys' safety mean so much to me?_ But as soon as she asked herself the question she pushed it aside as wanting to pay back her debt for what he did. _I don't know how I could live with myself if I let something happen to any of the Haimaru Sankyaku._

Thus decided, Hana went with Naruto to help pack up his tent and supplies, but before she started to walk away he pointed to the rest of the snake and asked, "Should we really just leave the rest? It seems so wasteful."

Hana smiled and reassured Naruto, "Don't worry about it, nothing goes to waste near this forest," she looks back to the forest surrounded by 44 locked gates she shivered a little. Turning back to Naruto she recovered her smile, though it was a little more strained this time, "If you like I can pitch the remains into the forest, then they'll be gone inside 10 minutes. Otherwise it might take a day or so."

Naruto thinks about it and smiles thinking it'd be cool to watch the snake get eaten so fast, but looking at Hana he says, "I think we can leave it here then."

XXXXX

The walk back to the Inuzuka compound was interrupted at the gates when the chunin guards tried to refuse Naruto entry to the village. Fortunately, a dog masked Anbu showed up and knocked out the guard who was trying to stop Naruto's reentry. Turning to the other he quietly says, "Report to the Hokage when your shift is over."

The other guard gulped and nodded, allowing Naruto and Hana to sign back in…of course Naruto had to sign out and then sign back in, much to Hana's amusement.

Naruto turned and smiled at the Anbu, "Thanks Inu-san." The Anbu nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves, making Naruto turn to Hana, "Do you know how to do that? I keep hoping they'll teach us at the Academy, but Iruka just laughed when I asked when they'll teach it to us."

Hana meanwhile was a little slack-jawed and took a moment to respond, "I…don't know when you'll learn it. I suppose it all depends on your Jonin Sensei you get once you graduate from the Academy." She turns to look at where the Anbu was only a few moments earlier, "Naruto…how do you know that Anbu?"

"Oh, you mean Inu-san…hey didn't you say your name was Inuzuka? Doesn't that mean you know him?"

She sweat-drops anime style, "Naruto, each Anbu has an animal mask, but just because that one has a dog mask doesn't mean he has anything to do with my family. I don't even know who is under that mask, no one but the Hokage should."

Naruto scratches the back of his head in thought and thinks a moment before saying, "Okay, that makes sense I guess. Anyway, I know Inu-san because he usually shows up when I'm in trouble. That's probably because the Hokage likes me and thinks of me like an adopted grandson."

Naruto keeps walking, but he doesn't know where the Inuzuka compound is exactly, so he turns to ask Hana which way it is only to find her several feet away, "What's up Inuzuka-san?" He decided to be respectful since he might need to stay with Hana's family for a little while, he only hoped they'd be okay with it. _All I need is a place to set up my tent, and if I'm really safe there I should be able to just buy food again…hey! This means I can have ramen again!_ Suddenly he really wanted to jump for joy, but managed to hold himself in, though his smile was truly a million-watt smile.

This had the dual effect of snapping her out of her funk, and making her blush again. She shakes her head and slaps her cheeks twice, smiles, and says, "It's nothing, come this way," and she walks off towards her home. Hana isn't carrying any of his stuff, even though she offered to carry the tent for him. He'd let her help him take it down, but said it was his and so it was his responsibility. At first she'd thought he was being sexist, but after his explanation she just smiled.

XXXXX

It wasn't long before they arrived at the Inuzuka compound and Naruto loved it at first site. It was big without the imposed grandeur of the Hyuga and emanated with the happy sound of dogs barking. Also, once he entered no one glared or cursed at him like in the Uchiha district, here they just looked on curiously, which he greatly preferred, and none of them looked like they wanted to hurt him for some mysterious reason.

Hana pointed out the kennels and guesthouses to the left of the entry, two small, but distinct training grounds to the right, and straight ahead the main building. It was a nice looking Ranch-style home that looked like it probably had at least as many rooms as his whole apartment building, which was to say about 20-30 rooms not counting community rooms.

When Naruto asked how many people lived here Hana explained that it's wasn't the only house on the property, and that it was actually a combined clan house and home for the head of the clan and her two children which she was, of course, one of.

"Wow! Why didn't you say you were so important Hana-hime?"

Again she blushed, but it got worse when a couple adults nearby heard and roared with laughter. _Why does he keep making me blush!? _She thought furiously. "Naruto…please don't call me that. It's…not appropriate. The Inuzuka aren't a noble family, and wouldn't want to be." Silently she was begging, _please Kami; don't let mother hear him say that! I'll never live it down!_

Meanwhile Naruto was confused;_ I wonder why her cheeks keep getting so red. I hope she's not sick._ Thankfully for Hana he let it slide and just asked, "Then what should I call you?"

Smiling again (and gaining control of her blush) she thought, _maybe the clan markings are to lessen the obviousness of blushes?_ Clearing her head of such strange thoughts she says, "Just call me Hana. Actually, other than my mom you should always call any Inuzuka by their first name. My mom you should address as Tsume-sama if in public, but inside the compound always as Tsume, unless she tells you otherwise, got it?"

Naruto nods and they enter the main house in search of Tsume Inuzuka, unfortunately they find her doing clan paperwork, _well it's not as bad as Ojii-san's desk._

Hana grabs Naruto and tries to leave without getting her mother's attention, she should have remembered the reason she left the village to train, _damn! What's wrong with me today? Dad was the last one foolish enough to walk in while mom was doing paperwork and no one in the village has seen him since._

Before she got the door closed again her mothers' nose twitched, her head snapped up, and she snarled, "WHAT!?!"

Hana winced and Naruto looked about to bolt, but Hana held onto his shirt firmly. Actually, her nails were almost drawing blood through his shirt, but she wasn't facing her mother alone. She quickly explained what had happened and by the end Naruto was squirming to get out of her hands, but Tsume looked a little less like she would bight their heads off. Instead she just said, "Get out…show him to a guest house. And you," she turns to Naruto, "make sure you're here for dinner. 6pm," she looked pack to her paperwork, a clear dismissal, and Hana quickly dragged Naruto away.

"That was close," Hana sighs.

"I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes!"

Hana laughs and rubs his head, causing Naruto to scowl and push her hand away, which deepens her laugh from a light chuckle to something that sounded like a bark. Naruto just shakes his head and lets Hana lead him back to where the quest houses were.

Arriving at one Hana checks and finds that it will do and shows Naruto inside. Naruto steps inside and stops, slack-jawed he can only ask, "How many people live here?" as it's easily twice as big as his apartment, but then he sees stairs to a second floor.

Needless to say he's shocked to hear, "Each of the guesthouses are designed for one family, but as that's just you this will be just for you while you're staying here. Naturally that means that you're responsible for keeping everything in the same condition you find it."

Naruto just smiles while looking around and Hana smiles looking at him, but catches herself before he can see and (predictably by now) blushes. "Well, get settled in and I'll see you at dinner."

"Thanks Hana!" then his smile fades and he looks concerned, "Your mom isn't always like that is she?"

That made her laugh again, _I can't remember the last time I laughed so much in a week…well, Kiba's good for a laugh too, and he doesn't make me blush. Still, I think I need to see if mom will let him stay _(cue another blush) _damn!_

"No Naruto. Mom is usually a lot of fun, but she lets the clans' paperwork pile up all month and then does it all at once. Usually everyone knows to stay away from her on her paperwork day, but I forgot due to all the excitement of the day," she smiled and for once it was Naruto's turn to blush. _YES! See how you like it, _she cheered silently.

Hana waved goodbye and as the door closed Naruto heard her laughter again and thought, _I really like her laugh._ Once he could no longer hear her laughter he set about getting settled in.

Author's Note – Okay so this is my attempt at a Hana x Naruto romance, here's hoping you like it. So that you know, this story is going to have a time-skip to get to the beginning of the series, but not before a few more things happen, first of all: dinner with the family! Just to let you know I intend to start one more story before I continue any of them, but I should be updating each at least once a month, probably twice or more, but I don't want to promise anything just yet.

P.S. Inuzuka dogs are named after a color, but Hana's three are only ever referred to as the Haimaru (Ash; Gray + boys) Sankyaku (Tripod), so I decided that when referring to an individual member of the trio I'd call them Ichimaru, Nimaru, and Sanmaru (1, 2, 3 – in order + boy).


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto (sighs dramatically and grumbles about how he wishes he did).

Naruto didn't take long to get settled in. After all, he only had a few clothes, couple pictures, and emergency supplies (i.e., food and his tent), and as he looked around he was hopeful that he might not need that last for a while. He started to think about all the supplies that he'd need to fix up his apartment and how long it would take him and hoped that Hana's family would let him stay until he finished the repairs. While he was planning out new traps to protect his apartment 6pm came and went, but it was only a few minutes after when a loud banging came from the front door.

Naruto looked at the clock and paled before running to the door screaming, "I'm sorry! I forgot!"

When he opened the door a very irate Tsume grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the main building. She didn't really say anything just grumbled a bit about boys always being late and "I'll FIX him if he makes me wait for him again" which Naruto didn't understand.

_Fix me? Fix me what,_ he thought.

Arriving at the dinner table Naruto is thrown into a chair next to Hana and across from a boy he hasn't been introduced to yet. The boy is glaring at him almost as fiercely as Tsume is, but it's Hana's reaction that has him confused, _is she blushing? _he asks himself.

Without any form of ritual Dinner at the Inuzuka's begins and Naruto is trying to show he has some manners when Hana jabs him in the ribs with her elbow and whispers, "Just eat, we don't stand on formality here."

Naruto looks at Tsume and the boy and smiles seeing them starting their second plate full of BBQ ribs, some vegetables, and a piece of bread with some olive oil and herb concoction that was quite tasty. Quickly digging in as he would to a bowl of ramen Naruto devours his first plate, starts his second, and finishes his third before the others.

This causes the boy to grumble about vacuums and Tsume and Hana to smile, but it's Naruto's loud belch that unites the family in laughter.

After a while Tsume finally remembers she hasn't introduced her son yet and says, "The pipsqueak here is Kiba," the pipsqueak comment caused Kiba to growl only to be wacked on the back of the head. "He's your age and is set to transfer into your class at the academy next week." Turning to Kiba she continued her introductions, "The gaki here is Naruto Uzumaki, he's in your year at the academy, as I just said, and" here a mischievous found her face, "your sister's new boyfriend."

This news caused Naruto and Hana to sputter and deny it, which they did in perfect sync, in turn causing Tsume to roar with laughter and Kiba to blink back and forth from his mother to his sister before his gaze finally settled on Naruto. Growling Kiba said, "If you hurt my sister I'll rip your balls off!" He said it so seriously Naruto gulped a little and Tsume was having trouble breathing from laughing so hard.

Hana stomped over and hit Kiba so hard he flew a good ten feet into a wall before she screamed, "YOU WON'T TOUCH NARUTO-KUN!" Realizing what she just said her face went so crimson you couldn't make out her clan markings and Naruto's blush wasn't far behind. Hana said something about needing to check on Sanmaru and ran out of the house.

About the time Tsume regained control of herself Kiba finally pulled himself off the floor and wobbled back to his chair holding his head. He looked to the still blushing Naruto then to his mom and asked, "What were we talking about and why did Hana hit me?" This caused Tsume to break out laughing yet again.

Excusing himself, Naruto made it back to his current quarters in the guesthouse and thought two things about this family that had taken him in. First, that they were strange, but at least life could never be boring around them and the second thing was that he kind of liked it when Hana had called him Naruto-kun.

XXXXX

The next week flew by pretty fast and Naruto got used to life in the Inuzuka compound. Tsume didn't tease him again after that first meal, but she did seem to watch him whenever he and Hana were together. He was used to being watched, but Tsume didn't look at him in any way he could understand.

During that week something happened in the Uchiha district, but it wasn't until later in a couple days later when he found out about how Itachi had singlehandedly wiped out all of his clan except his little brother. Naruto felt sorry for the boy and saw him a couple times on his walk home from the academy, but when he tried to talk to him the boy would just walk off. Eventually he stopped trying but from then on he watched the boy and saw him changing. He had used to be energetic and even kind of nice, but now he just brooded and didn't do more than grunt at anyone who tried to talk to him. They weren't in the same class so Naruto didn't see how he handled that, but he did notice how girls seemed to follow the boy around now.

Deciding that he couldn't do anything for the boy, whose name he soon learned was Sasuke, he moved on with his life.

XXXXX

At weeks end Kiba joined his class and, to Naruto's shame and humiliation revealed to Tsume and Hana that night that he couldn't even do a simple henge! Kiba roared with laughter when he went on to tell how Naruto had claimed in class that he was going to be the next Hokage. His laughter was abruptly stopped however when Hana started pummeling him into the ground.

During all of this Naruto squirmed and tried to excuse himself, but Tsume grabbed him and dragged him outside. She whistled and a large black wolf with an eye-patch trotted over from the kennels to sit at her side before letting its' lounge lull out in the canine equivalent of a smile. Tsume said to the wolf, "Watch the boy and tell me what you see," then to Naruto, "form a ram hand seal and channel your chakra for me." It was an order by the tone in her voice and Naruto had already learned that it was best to just follow her orders so he did as he was told.

After a few moments a deep, rough voice said, "You can stop now kid," and looked up at Tsume, "he has too much chakra for his age. He probably can't control it."

Tsume nods and says, "Thanks Kuromaru, I thought that might be the problem."

Turning back to Naruto she gave an evil sort of smile at his slack jawed expression and gestured toward his for Kuromaru who seemed to give the same kind of smile back before saying, "What? You've never seen a talking wolf before?"

Shaking his heads no Naruto was only slightly surprised when they both gave identical barking laughs. As Kuromaru starts to walk off her says over his shoulder, "Don't forget my extra streak for a week."

Tsume nods and mutters about a bet being a bet and Naruto gets back just enough sense to ask, "What bet?"

Grumbling Tsume says, "I bet you'd handle it better when you first heard Kuromaru talking…oh well, he earned the extra steaks from what he just did anyway."

"What did he do?"

"Kuromaru can sense chakra better than most humans can. What he told me was that you have too much chakra and not enough control, so I guess that's what we'll have to work on."

"We? Does that mean you're going to help me with my ninja training while I stay here?" He said the last with so much hope that Tsume just had to smile at him and nod which made him start whooping and yelling about how he would get some real help now.

Back at the door to the main building Hana was leaning against the doorframe and smiling at the hyperactive kid who had somehow become important to her.

Kiba saw the look on his sister's face and silently decided to help the boy as much as he could, _after all,_ he thought, _the happier she is the less likely she'll beat me up._

XXXXX

After a month went by Naruto finally had some basic chakra control down and was thinking about how he really didn't want to go back to his old apartment. He was almost finished making repairs, which he'd been doing every Sunday on his days off from school, but he reminded himself daily that this new life where it was almost like having a family would end soon.

One Sunday he was so depressed he didn't notice Hana walking with him until he got to his apartment and she let herself in behind him. After he got over his shock of seeing her in his dingy little apartment he shouted, "What are you doing here?" Of course, he hadn't meant to shout and at her frown he blushed a bit.

"Just wondering why you keep coming back here," she responded in a confused voice. "Do you actually like it here?"

"Well…it's my home, where else would I go?" he asked defensively.

She just stared at him a minute before saying, "Didn't mom tell you?" At his puzzled look she continued, "Two weeks ago she went filed the paperwork for your change of address. You live at the compound now and this whole building is scheduled for demolition next week, fixing it up is just a waste now."

In a quite voice he asked, "Do you mean it?" Her smile and nod elicited a series of happy sounds from Naruto that had Hana covering her ears thinking he must have gone supersonic. When he latched on to her and started hugging the life out of her screaming 'thank you, thank you' over and over again she just had to hug him back and smile down at him.

After a few minutes of holding him like this Hana realized two things. The first was that he was blushing, and the second was why he was blushing. It seemed he was just the right height that in their current embrace his mouth was just at the top of her breast!

A quick moment later she shoved him away and blushed scarlet.

The rest of the day was uneventful, though at dinner Tsume noticed how Naruto and Hana wouldn't meet each others eyes, though they were constantly looking at each other when the other was turned away. Kiba had long since decided that he wouldn't say anything about the weird relationship his sister and Naruto seemed to have. He felt that decision was very wise, as before, when he commented he invariably ended up smashed into the ground, the wall, or any other sufficiently solid object that happened to be handy.

As dinner was finished, but before Naruto could excuse himself Tsume cleared her throat. "Naruto, there's something I need to tell you. From now on you will be a permanent guest of the Inuzuka." She smiled at him and expected a happy response back, and so was unprepared for the blushes from Naruto and her daughter. "What's up? I thought you'd be happy."

Finally turning to Tsume Naruto smiled a little and said, "I am happy…but…Hana told me earlier today." He fidgeted a little and looked at Hana a moment before quickly turning away and blushing all over again.

Tsume looked from Naruto to Hana to Naruto to where Naruto had looked and gave a short barking laugh before getting up and walking over to the two. She grabbed them, lifted them, and slammed them together before either quite knew what was going on.

Unfortunately Naruto had had time to open his mouth to say something so when he was slammed into Hana his mouth went right to her breast!

Of course she was clothed, but still! The shock of the intimacy made him beat a hasty retreat and he was out the door so fast all that anyone would have seen was a yellow flash. This made Tsume think a moment before shrugging it off and falling down laughing her ass off! This continued for some 30 minutes with Hana just standing there as if she'd been petrified, when she finally moved it was to bolt for her room and not come out the rest of the night, which gave Tsume an additional few hours of mirth. Kiba just shook his head at the whole thing and went to bed.

XXXXX

The next month went by fairly normally. Naruto continued to work on his chakra control and when Kiba got Akamaru he began learning his family jutsu. It was also sometime during this month that a visitor came to the compound and Naruto called Tsume 'Tsume-sama,' as Hana had once told him he should when visitors came from the outside. This allowed Naruto and indeed everyone there to see something that was rumored to have only ever happened 4 or 5 times: Tsume blushed!

It also had the added benefit of getting rid of all awkwardness between Naruto and Hana once and for all as Hana rolled around laughing and Kiba took a quick picture that he would later sell throughout the compound making a tidy sum. Naturally Tsume found out about Kiba's little side business and managed to ensure that none of the pictures would EVER leave the compound. She did this by giving Kiba a super-atomic-wedgy and hanging him from a tree for three hours and informing everyone that if the picture got out they would all be treated to such.

The picture and the rumor of the event were quickly hushed up and never spoken of again and the next day Tsume got Naruto up at the crack of dawn and brought him to the kennels still in his night clothes (funny looking panda hat thing included).

At the kennels Tsume told Naruto not to move, stepped back, and whistled. The whole pack of Inuzuka dogs and a couple wolves came out and began circling Naruto, some with teeth bared and some coming close enough to lick him. He was thoroughly awake now and just a little scared, he was sure the dogs wouldn't have been fed yet and was wondering what he might have done wrong.

After 30 minutes the dogs had all licked him at least once and then they stopped circling and Kuromaru stepped forward, ripped Naruto's shirt off with his teeth, and placed one paw over his heart. A moment later Naruto felt something weird and when Kuromaru removed his paw a print was left over his heart like a tattoo.

He gasped and looked confused and Tsume explained while chuckling, "You've been accepted by the pack. Now you are pack friend and that means…" she paused dramatically and Naruto wasn't sure what to think might be coming next, "that you can't call me Tsume-sama ever again!"

She gave a smug smile as he face planted. "Is that all it means?" he asked, somewhat exasperatedly.

After standing in a thinking pose for a full minute Tsume said, "…No, but what else it means can wait for another time. All you need to know now is that the pack has accepted you so you're part of the family now.

Naruto beamed and hugged her, not at all concerned or even thinking about how his head brushed against her breasts. This was a mother figure, and Naruto never even considered thinking otherwise, but with Hana, _no! Must not think those thoughts! Hana-hime,_ he still sometimes called he this in his head,_ is a friend! If not for her and her family I'd be back in that stupid old apartment and I'd be lucky if they told me before they started tearing it down around me!_

His thoughts eventually calmed and he just relaxed into her arms where he promptly fell asleep, never having felt so safe before in his life.

XXXXX

And so the first year of Naruto's life amongst the Inuzuka's went. During that time Naruto's chakra control never seemed to improve because his reserves just kept going up, but he did finally get the hang of henge and kawarimi. Bunshin, however, never seemed to work right and Naruto was a little worried, but he consoled himself with the fact that he still had two more years before he had to get it right. Also during this time Naruto's taijutsu and weapon skills improved dramatically, as did Kiba's. It seemed that they were good for each other as all of their practical ninja skills seemed to be improving rapidly. So rapidly in fact that they were a close second and third in the class, right behind Sasuke.

If it wasn't for Naruto's poor performance on written tests he would have almost surpassed Sasuke on total points, but for some reason something always seemed to go wrong on that part of school life. Still, Naruto wasn't complaining, for the first time in his life he had a family to go home to. People who cared about him and even a new best friend in Kiba, as Hana was busy with her various duties a lot of the time and he really only saw her at meals, when training, or at the veterinary, where he started helping out any chance he got.

Hana was going on missions with her Genin team and working at both the veterinary and the hospital to improve her medical skills. When she was younger she'd always thought she'd just be a vet, but now it seemed she wanted to be equally prepared to treat human or animal.

Sometime during this year Naruto taught Kiba the Sexy Jutsu and was blown back with a massive nosebleed when he ended up looking a lot like Hana. When he finally woke up he found out that Hana had seen the whole thing and beaten Kiba severely for it and made him promise that he would never use that jutsu again under any circumstance. Naruto smiled and was sure Kiba would, but Kiba informed his friend he intended to keep his promise. When Naruto asked why Kiba just shivered and said he didn't want to talk about it.

At the end of that year Naruto tried o take the early out exam to pass the academy. He had hopped that if he did this maybe the lack of a bunshin wouldn't fail him, but he was wrong. He was great in everything else and even his paper grades were a little better than they had once been, but he just couldn't learn the stupid bunshin! Tsume explained why, and he understood that for some reason his control was just not refined enough so he focused almost all his time just on that one thing. He dropped to third in the class (based off of the practical skills) behind Kiba, but that was okay, he just had to get the stupid bunshin and he'd be fine, he knew it.

It was during the next year that Naruto once again experienced another life changing event, this time in the form of a small fox.

XXXXX

One day, while Naruto and Kiba were coming back home from a particularly fun prank they'd pulled on some old people that had called Naruto a demon they saw a small red animal caught in a trap. Never having seen a fox before neither knew what it was, but being natural animal lovers they decided to help, so while Kiba held the trap open Naruto grabbed the little ball of whimpering red fur and rushed off to the veterinary in the compound.

All the while he whispered softly to the little thing that, "It'll be all right," and, "Hana will fix you right up."

Hana was shocked by what Naruto and her brother had brought to her, but her inner vet refused to let the creature suffer for any reason. During the treatment Naruto held the critter and spoke softly to it to keep it calm. Hana smiled at Naruto and thought, _he's a good man…_of course, this caused her to blush and try to change the thought in her head, but it just wouldn't.

Naruto didn't notice Hana's internal struggles because something strange was happening. It felt like he was suddenly in two places at once and one seemed to be looking up at him!

XXXXX

To fully heal the fox took a few hours and by the end Hana was exhausted, but when she looked at Naruto she got the shock of her young life to see his eyes looked a little different. In fact, he looked different in several ways; the first being that he now had ever so slightly slit eyes, then there was the red highlights in his hair, and the whisker marks on his face darkened a shade or two. She gasped at the implications and when he asked what was wrong she thought his teeth looked a little sharper. "Nothing's wrong," she smiled, but was thinking, _I need to ask mom about this._

Decision made she said, "Naruto, I need to take care of some stuff, do you think you can stay here?"

He said, "Sure," but he never took his eyes off of the young fox kit he was holding.

Hana quickly left and found Tsume doing paperwork, but when she explained what she thought had happened Tsume said, "Show me," and they both returned to the veterinary. When they got back they saw that the changes seemed to have stabilized as before certain features had been shifting slightly.

It takes a couple minutes to get Naruto's attention, but once they do they pull him over to a mirror where he sees the differences and the shock on his face confirms that he hadn't realized what had been happening to him.

Tsume forces him into a chair, picks up the fox, and puts it in his lap were her starts absentmindedly petting it and scratching it behind the ears.

Then Tsume begins to explain what has happened and they do a brief catalog of the changes: his hair is now more a strawberry blond, his teeth have reverted to normal except his k-9's are sharper and slightly longer, his nails are a little harder though not inherently sharper, and his eyes seem to have returned to normal. _I'm glad his eyes didn't really change,_ Hana thought,_ Naruto-kun has beautiful eyes,_ realizing where her thoughts are going she manages to stop it before she starts blushing this time.

Tsume smiles at this and turns to Naruto. "Well, there's at least one good thing about this."

"What's that?" Naruto asks.

"We should be able to teach you our family jutsu now."

Naruto's ecstatic shout could be heard halfway around Konoha, and while many villagers scowled at the obvious joy of the so called 'demon brat' a select few, and old man and his daughter, a teacher from the academy, a few Anbu, and the Hokage smiled.

A/N – Before anyone comments: no the yellow flash wasn't the Hiraishin it was Naruto moving so fast normally that the only thing you could clearly see was his hair. Next chapter should begin the actual series. For those keeping track Naruto has better chakra control and taijutsu skills and has a companion like an Inuzuka so he'll have some of their abilities. Nothing all that great, but an improved version over canon just the same.


End file.
